Symphony No. 20 (Myaskovsky)

Nikolai Myaskovsky's Symphony No. 20 in E major, his Op. 50, was written in 1940. It is dedicated to Yuri Shaporin.[1][2] The symphony was premiered on 28 November 1940 by Nikolai Golovanov conducting the Large All-Union Radio SO.[2] It has three movements:

  1. Allegro con spirito (ca. 8 minutes)
  2. Adagio, in C major (ca. 9 minutes, initial tempo quarter note=52[3])
  3. Allegro inquieto, in E minor (ca. 10 minutes)

The first movement is in sonata form. The Adagio is on two themes, in C and in A♭, which appear contrapuntally at the reappearance of the first; it has the form A-B (l'Istesso tempo, Andantino)-A'-B'-coda.[3] The finale is a rondo whose E major concluding pages incorporate a climactic reappearance by the main theme of the Adagio, leading Richard Taruskin to remark of this symphony that it is Myaskovsky's "Land of Hope and Glory".[4]

References

  1. ^ "Opus by Miaskovsky". http://home.wanadoo.nl/ovar/miasopus.htm. Retrieved 23 January 2010. 
  2. ^ a b "Myaskovsky: Works: Symphony No. 20". http://www.myaskovsky.ru/?id=4&id1=0&id2=58&sf=0&so=0. Retrieved 23 January 2010. 
  3. ^ a b Score.
  4. ^ Richard Taruskin, On Russian music at Google Books, page 290.

Recordings

1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27

List of compositions by Nikolai Myaskovsky